And There Goes Joe Paterno’s Legacy

If you’ve been following the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky over the past few days, you may have noticed Joe Paterno‘s family basically losing it in the media over the Freeh Report, an investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh into why Penn State dropped the ball on reporting Sandusky to authorities. So either Paterno’s family had inside information on what the report would contain even though nobody has read it until this morning when it was released to the public, or they were going on the emails leaked to CNN earlier in the month that indicated Joe Paterno had discussions with athletic director Tim Curley and Penn State president Graham Spanier about handling the situation “humanely” i.e. not calling the police and just telling Sandusky to take his kid raping elsewhere. Which probably explains how an opinion letter Paterno supposedly wrote to his players before his death was magically leaked to the press yesterday, but that’s nothing compared to the words the Paterno family is about to eat from their statement to the Patriot News on Tuesday:

Joe Paterno did not cover up for Jerry Sandusky. Joe Paterno did not know that Jerry Sandusky was a pedophile. Joe Paterno did not act in any way to prevent a proper investigation of Jerry Sandusky. To claim otherwise is a distortion of the truth.

So guess what the Freeh report found out? Joe Paterno knew about Jerry Sandusky molesting a child in 1998, three years before the Mike McQueary incident. Which makes that the SECOND known case of Joe Paterno finding out about child rape and looking the other way to protect Penn State. So here’s a link to the full 267 page Freeh report and below are some highlights from the press release that are pretty fucking damning:

What People Not Blinded By Hero Worship Could’ve Already Told You:
“Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, it is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University – Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley – repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities, the Board of Trustees, Penn State community, and the public at large. Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no such sentiments were ever expressed by them for Sandusky’s victims.”

Joe Paterno Didn’t Want To Interrupt People’s Weekend By Reporting Child Rape:
“We also know that he delayed reporting Sandusky’s sexual conduct because Mr. Paterno did not “want to interfere” with people’s weekend. To his credit, Mr. Paterno stated on November 9, 2011, ‘With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.'”

And The Nail In The Coffin
“The evidence shows that these four men also knew about a 1998 criminal investigation of Sandusky relating to suspected sexual misconduct with a young boy ina Penn State football locker room shower. Again, they showed no concern about that victim. The evidence shows that Mr. Paterno was made aware of the 1998 investigation of Sandusky, followed it closely, but failed to take any action, even though Sandusky had been a key member of his coaching staff for almost 30 years, and had an office juststeps away from Mr. Paterno’s. At the very least, Mr. Paterno could have alerted the entire football staff, in order to prevent Sandusky from bringing another child into the Lasch Building.”

The silence from Paterno apologists is pretty deafening right now, but I’m sure they’ll say something along the lines of him being dead and isn’t able to defend himself. Which is horseshit because up until he died, Joe Paterno continued to whitewash his actions, the guilt of which more than likely killed him. You would think an honorable, 10-feet-tall titan of American exceptionalism would’ve confessed on his deathbed and begged for forgiveness, but he was Catholic so just assume this happened:

JOE: Father, has my family left?
PRIEST: Yes, Joe. It’s just you and me now.
JOE: There’s something I need to confess, but first, how good are at you keeping child rape a secret?
PRIEST: God, you’re a dick.
JOE: Haha! Gotcha. But, seriously though, I knew about Jerry the whole time. *croaks*

Becuz … from now on anyone who defends PSU accepts that raping children is an understandable action. Or I should say, YOU seem to think it’s reasonable (not a compliment). Just incase your Jerry Sandusky’s wife.

Something tells me you are the one giving the thumbs down to each response. :)) I just feel sorry for you cos that is the way you think. I sincerely hope you don’t get ass raped to learn the absurdity of your view.

Nittany Fan, take your first born son and go out and find a stranger and let the stranger fuck your kid in the ass, then forgive him. Joe Paterno allowed that kind of shit happen for MORE THAN A DECADE. Fuck you.

Are you fucking kidding me? If you are kidding, it’s a gross and un-funny joke considering the context. If you are NOT kidding, you must know that it is exactly people like you that are motivating me to urge that every single reference to Joe Paterno as anything but a child-rapist-enabler be burned to the ground.

Because Paterno is as guilty as Sandusky for the rape of those children. I hope he is burning in Hell…which is impossible because I don’t believe in that shit…so maybe his spirit can be trapped in some spirit rape center where he is raped forever. Seems fitting for a wayward spirit. Spirits of suicide “victims” are wayward, right?

Forgive and forget huh. How would you have liked if Joe stood around and watched as Jerry jizzed all over your kid in the locker room?. Or got him drunk with some Jesus juice the way Micahel Jackson used to get his young dingalings loose.

NITTANY fan. youre a fucking moron. Youre obviously completely retarded and unsympathetic to child abuse, child molestation and child RAPE. How can you possibly support someone who allowed this to happen right under his nose? what would you have done?!? he COULD HAVE prevented DOZENS of victims! Youre a sick fuck!

I’d enjoy stomping on the old man’s balls, knees and face, if
he wasn’t dead already. What a twat you are. CHILD RAPE,
asshole. (Plus, an entire culture built on football is really queer,
sick and kind of retarded. Even without the entire thing resting on
a mountain raped anuses. Some “honor”).

Bulldoze Penn State flat and sow the ground with salt. And ban
football as a sport for rapist fascist retards.

The Catholic Church IS an old boys club protecting its own. (Which is not to say I’m down on religion — I just do not support organized religion. Get a group of power hungry men together and something bad is bound to happen. Period.)

Actually, I described about every group or organization on the planet. Ie. political party, Police force, Company/Corp., Club, Sport Org., Home Owner Ass., Union, Etc. This has nothing to do with Religion or Church.
It was the Sports department and Admin covering up to not look bad.

It’s about religion because the proponents in this case were the usual church every Sunday types, who seemed to forget all about decency and humanity when it suited them. Something common to bible-thumpers.

That is a ridiculously generic assumption and speaks much more to your issues than theirs. I’m not defending in ANY way what Paterno, Sandusky, or any of the others involved with covering it up did, but to jump to the conclusion that they are all religious and that played a role in this? Way over the top.

The “Catholic Church” is a group of people. And I’ll readily submit that some of those people have done bad things, including abusing children. But guess what? Atheists and agnostics have abused children as well. Bad people do bad things. You don’t have to be a member of a church to be corrupt, and being a member of a church doesn’t make you corrupt. If you’re upset that horrible people use religion to justify horrible conduct, that’s fine. So am I. Don’t blame the weapon; blame the person brandishing it.

Jeff Glass, while atheists and agnostics may indeed rape children, they don’t do it as employees within the confines of a corporate power structure that not only provides them with victims, but covers up their crimes when they’re discovered. Stop being so disingenuous – the Catholic Church is more than just a “group of people”. It wasn’t some nebulous “group of people” that’s been giving Bernard Law a haven from prosecution for the past decade.

No, you don’t have to be a member of a church to be corrupt – but in this case, it helps.

I may be many things, but disingenuous I am not. I never once suggested the group was nebulous. You may know better than I the individuals responsible for preventing Law’s prosecution, but at the end of the day, it is a discrete group of people, whether acting alone or in concert with others. And I think you’re missing my real point. I’m not trying to make light of the Catholic church by calling it a “group of people.” I know full well the power it commands, and how far-reaching its grasp is. My point was simply that we need to hold people accountable as individuals, rather than focus on an institution they manipulate or hide behind. Religion doesn’t have to be pernicious, and it’s unfortunate that it becomes that way with the wrong people at the helm.

It’s NOT about religion, unless by “religion” you mean “football”. Conflating the two by asserting that all these guys went to church every Sunday is ridiculous – it avails you nothing and actually weakens any valid argument you might have.

Penn’s administrators were actually worse than the Catholic Church – who thought that was possible? At least the priests who were discovered to be preying on children were sent on retreat so they could supposedly repent and reaffirm their faith. Then they were sent to a different diocese and a fresh load of victims. Penn didn’t even bother to put up a pretense to that sort of lip service.

I actually think that it is appropriate to conflate football with religion. Seriously, do you remember how people were reacting when this shit first blew up? Holding candlelight vigils, throwing riots, and general outrage for Paterno because “people were after his legacy”

Granted, I doubt that’s what cc meant, but I do think it’s an apt comparison.

Comparison is one thing, conflating the two so that one can’t stand idependent of the other is not. cc stated that because Paterno and the Penn admin were Sunday-church-going people, therefore they looked the other way at rape – so it’s really about religion. Total train wreck of logic. Never mind the utter lack of proof regarding and Sunday devotions, even if it’s true that’s a total post hoc fallacy topped off with an I-don’t-know-what-the fuck kicker.

And if there’s one thing thing that isn’t needed here, it’s another phallus. Um, sorry, fallacy.

If I were king, I’d make it a law that all statues, murals, or other artwork featuring JoePa (I’m assuming Penn State has many) must be changed so that he’s looking on, smiling, while a young child is molested nearby. I’d also require that all Penn State athletic facilities have the words “Rapey McRape” added to their official names, e.g., Rapey McRape Stadium, The Rapey McRape Memorial Swimming Pool, etc.

It’s obvious to me that they all thought it wasn’t that big of a deal and probably had fantasies of doing it themselves. That is the only way to rationalize why they didn’t put a stop to it. They all should be arrested.

Was this guy running a football team or a fucking kid’s harem? Seriously, who looks the other way on BUTT RAPE?!?!? I mean a DUI, maybe. A one-time domestic violence charge–possibly. But BUTT-RAPING LITTLE BOYS?!?!?

“At the very least, Mr. Paterno could have alerted the entire football staff, in order to prevent Sandusky from bringing another child into the Lasch Building.” – wtf is that? Its okay to rape, just don’t do it here?

“These individuals, unchecked by the Board of Trustees that did not perform its oversight duties, empowered Sandusky to attract potential victims to the campus and football events by allowing him to have continued, unrestricted and unsupervised access to the University’s facilities and affiliation with the University’s prominent football program. Indeed, that continued access provided Sandusky with the very currency that enabled him to attract his victims. ”

Basically, their refusing to report him didn’t just let him know it was OK, they actually enabled him to attract future victims. Nothing like a loyal bunch of athletic supporters.

Agreed if Reggie Bush can be harassed and vilified and forced to turn in his Heisman trophy over taking some cash and you can’t even let someone buy you a sandwich when you are an athlete in the NCAA then this bullshit should have the most severe of consequences. I think 10 years is too little, they should be banned a minimum of 20 years and maybe even for life.

Pete Rose did not rape any children or aid in the rape of any children and he is banned for life from baseball.

Reggie bush was “harrassed and vilified” because he broke NCAA rules he was very much aware of, then lied to everyone about it. He’s not a babe in the woods; he helped bring down the USC football program with his greed, lying & entitlement. But, that was just the tip of the iceberg at SC; there were a lot of systemic problems there that the university happily turned a blind eye towards as long as they were winning. Just like Penn State & Paterno happily turned a blind eye towards Sandusky raping kids. SC deserved what they got; Penn State deserves 10x more…

I personally think that everything done at Penn State while Jerry Sandusky was there should be turned over and wiped from the history of the NCAA. This seems like a proper thing considering everything that happens to people who violate NCAA rules. Okay, so this guy was violating FEDERAL LAW. Pretty sure that’s a bit worse than some rules by the NCAA organization.

@whoopie–assuming you are referencing the w. goldberg idiocy. but for arguments sake, i would have to say that the comparison to sandusky might actually be unfair to that disgusting piece of shit. as far as i know, his victims were conscious and not drugged before being ass-raped. also, sandusky’s victims were not later painted as whores who deserved said rape. polanski is a scumbag, sandusky is filth, they both deserve each other and a lifetime of pain in jail.

Fuck Joe Paterno’s legacy. If we’re to believe the Freeh report, that asshole didn’t give 2 shits about the kids being raped by his disgusting pedophile assistant coach. He turned a blind eye to kids reporting being raped, and went so far as to tell Sandusky of the reports while still allowing him free reign, which put the kids at further danger. He didn’t care one bit about the kids being abused; he can rot in hell for all I care…

He not only didn’t do anything about McQueary’s eyewitness report of Sandusky’s raping that kid in the shower, he actually told Sandusky that McQueary had seen him. Sandusky was the only one who knew who the kid was – so not only did they not give two shits about the kid who’d been raped, they actually put him in further danger by telling his rapist he’d been seen. You can only guess what sort of intimidation that child was further subjected to.

I say don’t just fire these douchebags without a pension and close the football program for however many years, I say tie them to a stake in the center of the stadium, torch it, and burn the whole fucking thing down to the ground. And then salt the earth.

And don’t whine to me how that will punish innocent students. If you want an athetic scholarship, go elsewhere. The University doesn’t deserve to have any athletic programs since it’s clear they have no concept of how to run one. Not to mention that any team they had in the next two decades would be the subject of such scorn and ridicule that no one would want to play on it anyway.